Is Suzuki Developing a 1,400cc Supercharged Hayabusa?

Not all bike makers from Japan are proactive and trying to push the envelope all the time - Suzuki is one such example. Most of the bikes that have come from Suzuki's stable have gone on to become legends at various levels. Two such motorcycles were/are GSX-R1000 (the real Gixxer) and Hayabusa.

These two bikes created a niche for themselves in their own respective categories from the time they were launched. But Suzuki never bothered to change these machines radically making them change with time.

Suzuki has filed many patents in the last few years focused around the forced induction engines which makes us believe that the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer is developing a supercharged engine. This also hints at the possibility of a new, and much-needed, Hayabusa.

If Suzuki develops this engine, the new Hayabusa might be offered in two trims - one with the supercharger and one without. No prizes for guessing that the non-supercharged machine will be commercially available and road legal whereas the more-menacing supercharged machine will be strictly for track use.

In recent times, Kawasaki did something similar when it launched its H2 and H2R. Where the Kawasaki H2 has a 998cc inline four engine developing close to 200bhp, the H2R was tuned to deliver almost 300bhp of power. Doing the mathematics, it shouldn't be difficult to figure out what speeds this supercharged 1,400cc dragon will be able to fly at.

But, that reminds me of the era when Hayabusa came into existence for the first time and almost all the two-wheeler makers agreed to restrict the top speeds of their machines to 300km/h. So, even though this machine is expected to have abilities still unknown to mankind, it will be restricted to make this world a safer place.